Our local library sucks, because the head of the library system believes with all his heart that books will soon be replaced entirely by computers, and because he authorizes only purchasing books from the New York Times bestseller lists. He wants to reach the “common man.” rather than the intellectual.

In addition, if one of the books is damaged and you report it, they throw it away rather than repair it, and replace it with another bestseller.

So if you want to read The Notebook again or the latest Stephanie Meyers book you’re good, but if you want a classic or real literature, forget about it.

As I live in the capital of Canada, we have a pretty good library system. It has tons of books and multiple copies of new ones, but the demand is SO high that there are hundreds of holds on the most popular books and even ten and twenty holds on not recent but popular books. Luckily I am a patient person, and they will ship books across town to your local library for free, so I keep a reading list going and books cycle in and out of my house regularly.

My current library system, outside of Philly, is meh. IMO. Some of the limits on what materials you can take out, and in what quantity are ridiculous.

My previous system, for which I worked, was awesome. free delivery to all patrons at home, computer classes, online everything, even had an iPhone/Blackberry app to view the catalog as you walked the stacks. Etc. (www.ocls.info)

I live also in a town of about 5000 people, but the local library is wonderful. It uses an interlibrary load system that gives us access to about 35 small-town libraries plus cities like Poughkeepsie, Rochester and Syracuse.

A driver in a little van tootles around a large area daily. My library has original Louis Comfort Tiffany 12’ high stained glass windows along with 12 computers.

The town I grew up in had a crappy children’s library but a nice township library. Where I’m at now, the children’s library seems better than the regular library.
I use my college library a lot, because I rarely check out books to read for enjoyment at the library. I should actually do that, to save money because I spend a lot at Borders!

I live in a large city with a huge system, so I think it’s pretty darn good. Some of the libraries are smaller and not as good, but because they are all branches of a larger system, it’s not that bothersome. In fact, sometimes I think this city has too many libraries. (I live in a city of roughly a million)

I work at a library in a town of about 1500 people. The building is too small, we have too little shelf space & we don’t have near the perks we want to offer the public. We’re in the process of trying to get things together to build a new one. It’s a daunting project for such a small town, but the need is real & we won’t quit until we have our new library.

Besides books & magazines, we offer DVDs, videos & CDs for rental. We have 3 computers for public use & we have wireless connection. We need a lot more room & we want 6 computers. We offer a summer story hour program that runs through all of June.

The head librarian is great & we have a library board that cooperates with us. If someone wants a book that we don’t have inhouse, we have an interlibrary system that we can order it from other libraries in the state. Altho we’re small & need a new facility, it’s great fun to work there, & we do the best we can with what we have.

You have my sympathies. Back in 1974–5, when I was at the College of Librarianship Wales, I did my leisure reading at the Aberystwyth Public Library. Or rather, got it there: there was nowhere to sit, not even to consult the reference collection. I would borrow and then adjourn to the nearest cafe. But like all the public libraries I visited it had a large collection of thrillers.